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Title: Dakota Circle by Thomas D. Isern, Tom Isern ISBN: 0-911042-53-9 Publisher: Institute for Regional Studies North Dakota S Pub. Date: 01 November, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: Pulse of the Prairie
Comment: If the purpose of regional studies is to arrive at an understanding of the character of the people of an area, and how that character is reflected in the material constructions of those people, then Isern has it nailed. Among the fascinating range of issues pertaining to Dakota culture that he discusses is how the creative/artistic impulse of a people is sometimes found in the mundane.
For many Dakotans, whose lives are shaped by a pioneer inheritance, whose forebear's lives were hard and economic existence precarious, 'art for art sake' just doesn't seem right. The inherent desire for artistic expression sometimes found, and finds, its outlet in the practical, such as in the design and construction of barns, calf feeders or windmills.
For many Dakotans, huge roadside monuments, like the world's biggest buffalo, pheasant, dairy cow, etc., would be hard to appreciate if they were 'merely' artistic expressions. They would probably be seen by most of us as monuments to someone's ego. But done for a bigger purpose, such as for the benefit of the artist/creator's community, it is much easier to appreciate. But that's this Dakotan's view.
Most interesting of all is Isern's reflection on the desire of many here to create a mythology of our own. Hence the tales of the Welsh among the Mandan, or the Vikings along the James River, as well as our desire to believe these tales. (They're called tales only because they haven't been proven. Yet.)
In the end, a study of regional culture tells us something about what is intrinsic to the whole of humanity. It's rare to come upon a regional study that is genuinely wide ranging. Rarer still to come upon one that is free of the pedantic stuffiness that is found in so many other regional studies. For locals, this is an 'ah-hah' book. Isern's got us down cold. And coming from the Dakotas, that's saying something.